John Keegan

At once a grand tour of the battlefields of North America and an unabashedly personal tribute to the military prowess of an essentially unwarlike people.  • "[A] magisterial narrative history, enriched by an authorial voice."—The Washington Post
Fields of Battle spans more than two centuries and the expanse of a continent to show how the immense spaces of North America shaped the wars that were fought...

Richard Hannay certainly didn't go looking for the mystery, all the same, the mystery found him. First in the form of a young American telling fantastic tales of international intrigue and murderous conspiracy. There was a cabal at work -- on a plot cleverly crafted to set the entire world at war with itself. The American meant to put a stop to it, but needed to be hidden for a week or two. Reluctantly, Hannay agreed to hide him. The next morning...

In this major and wholly original contribution to military history, John Keegan reverses the usual convention of writing about war in terms of generals and nations in conflict, which tends to leave the common soldier as cipher. Instead, he focuses on what a set battle is like for the man in the thick of it—his fears, his wounds and their treatment, the mechanics of being taken prisoner, the nature of leadership at the most junior level, the role...

With the premise that all civilizations owe their origins to war making, Keegan probes the meanings, motivations, and methods underlying war in different societies over the course of some two thousand years, from the ritualistic combat of Stone Age people to the mass destruction warfare of the present age.

Noted military historian observes the command characteristics of Alexander, Wellington, Grant, and Hitler within the context of heroism.

Including fascinating details and anecdotes, Keeegan expertly chronicles the individual successes and setbacks of six separate national armies -- American, Canadian, English, German, Polish, and French -- as they struggle for control. Keegan clearly depicts each nation's values and their approach to war with unique insight and intelligence.

Although fifty years have passed since the end of World War II, there has as yet been no definitive history of that conflict. Existing histories have raised as many questions as they answer: Did President Roosevelt have foreknowledge of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor? Might bombing the Auschwitz railroad have impeded the course of the Holocaust? Now one of our most esteemed military historians assesses the literature that has emerged from World...